A Riverside County man who sold memorabilia signed by Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee pleaded guilty to committing tax fraud of over $1.2 million.
The Department of Justice said that Mac Martin Anderson, 59, of Corona, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of willfully subscribing to a false tax return.
This felony carries a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each charge, the DOJ noted.
According to his plea agreement, Anderson had a personal relationship with Lee and from 2015 to 2018 sold Marvel-related items bearing Lee’s autograph to various dealers, brokers and fans at comic conventions.
Anderson accepted payments from buyers typically in the form of cash or checks, said the DOJ.
“These payments were considered regular income by the IRS and should have been reported on Anderson’s income tax return each year that he received money,” officials said in a release.
For each of the four tax years Anderson profited off selling this memorabilia, he made about $289,460, $452,269, $414,166, and $80,590, respectively.
In total, the DOJ said Anderson admitted to making about $1,236,485 in reportable income from the memorabilia sales which resulted in him owing the IRS around $482,833.
Anderson has now agreed to pay restitution to the IRS of the same amount he owed.
